First of all, thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. Only a couple of years back, very little was known or shared on how to get off of these types of meds. Just recently, as someone stated on a previous post, that this issue is started to get attention in the press. I strongly believe the pharmaceutical companies did not put much thought on how to get off of the meds, which make sense in an evil business perspective. This was very evident a few years ago when I asked my primary doctor about tapering off of venlafaxine, and at that time he honestly did not have any concrete solution to do so or have any case studies to refer to.

I've reached the "cold turkey" stage of getting off of venflaxine (day 3 and counting). I've been on 75mg for around 10 years (started on something else equivalent, then went to the generic venflaxine), and began tapering off a year ago at 37.5mg. My 2019 New Years resolution was to be finally off of it completely, so I started to do the final stage of the plan 2 weeks ago. The last stage consisted of two days on, one day off for six days, one day on, one day off for a week, and then drop it completely. Right now I'm functioning "normally", meaning I do get minor brain zaps, and have felt the dizziness / balance issues if I'm in motion (e.g. walking, getting up from sitting or laying down). I figure this will take a few weeks or so to fade away.

So, I just want to share what I've learned so far:

Truisms that everyone on this post mentioned

1. Talk to your doctor to come up with a plan for tapering off, and stay in contact during the process. Most important.
2. Let your family and close friends know when you're tapering off. For support, and in-case you're going to need help, like going into a bad withdrawal.
3. Tapering off this med is a long process (meaning weeks and/or months). Can't go "cold turkey" right away.
4. Stay off of caffeinated and alcohol during the process. I learned this by accident before starting the process. I forgot to take my med one day, had a cocktail with dinner, then woke up the next morning with my mind racing out off control and a terrible bout of dizziness. Another incident was I drank a strong cup of coffee (on another day I forgot to take my med), and I was so wired out that I couldn't sleep at night, though I had a awesome productive day at work. lol.
5. The withdrawal symptoms will happen, but keeping in mind it's temporal. Yeah, the brain zaps and dizziness are there, and I realize I need to be patient and stay the course for those things will fade away.
6. Getting a good night's sleep.

Things to do or plan for.

1. Handling anxiety / panic attacks w/o the meds. Acknowledging that this is inevitable, I've started to make meditation a daily routine like brushing my teeth. Fortunately there's quite a few phone apps out there that you can use to help out than reading a boring book (I tried that) or getting a referral to a therapist (more $$$). The one I use is called Breathe.
2. Consistent exercise. For me, it's a run or intense group workout. For others, maybe just a nice, long walk, stretching / yoga.
3. Plan to take time off when going off the med completely. I've scheduled the start of the no-more-med days this holiday weekend and are taking a few extra days time off from work. I did this since I figured I'll have some withdrawal issues, and I did not know what the intensity would be like.
4. Do not plan any large social functions during the final tapering down phase. I wanted to keep life as calm as possible.
5. Take into account of what part of the year you're going to zero meds. From past anxiety attacks, I noticed that the worst attacks came during the winter, in which the days were shorter, and I didn't go out as much. That's why I started the final tapering now (early Spring).
6. Watch out for any reactions to other neurological related meds. I've had more business travel lately, and I normally take melatonin to help with the jet lag. Since I started tapering off last year, I noticed I got fever like symptoms (hot, dripping in sweat) after taking it.

Hope my two cents help in your journey kicking venlafaxine out of your life. Thanks for reading.

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